It looks like the shopping spree continues for Stanley Black &Decker, after dropping $2 billion on Lenox & Irwin and before the ink is even dry they are dropping another $900 Million on Sear’s Craftsman Tool brand. Sears has continue to struggle so selling off the Craftsman brand frees up some much needed capital, in addition to closing some stores and streamlining their business hopefully they will again become a successful retailer.
Craftsman Tools will continue to be sold in Sears who will be able to license the name royalty free for another 15 years. Stanley looks to expand on the Craftsman brand into other channels which currently only 10% of products are sold outside of Sears. “We intend to invest in the brand and rapidly increase sales through these new channels, including retail, industrial, mobile and online,” said Stanley Black & Decker Chief Executive James Loree.
Currently most of the Craftsman Tools are manufactured by various competitors to Stanley Black & Decker as they look to bring more of that manufacturing in house, both foreign and domestically, no doubt they see opportunity in also taking away business from their competition.
Sears CEO Edward Lampert said the deal represents a significant step in the company’s transformation to a membership-focused business model. He called Stanley “a great owner that is committed to expanding Craftsman and helping it to reach its potential outside of its current channels,” he said.
Will they be going direct to consumers? We are very interested to learn more about the future plans of Craftsman Tool Brand?
